Bill Text: HI HB90 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: Emergency Response Vehicle Noise Task Force

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2013-04-18 - Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 710). [HB90 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-HB90-Amended.html

---

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1045

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 90

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Energy and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 90, H.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMERGENCY RESPONSE VEHICLES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a temporary emergency response vehicle noise task force to determine:

 

     (1)  The impact of the use of emergency response vehicle sirens in terms of noise and whether the use of sirens enhances the safety of first responders and the public when an emergency response vehicle responds to a call in the State; and

 

     (2)  The relative effectiveness of the use of emergency response vehicle lights instead of the use of sirens at night when an emergency response vehicle responds to a call in the State.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Downtown Neighborhood Board No. 13 and two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health, City and County of Honolulu Police Department, The Queen's Health Systems, and one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the State Fire Council, Kauai Fire Department, Maui Department of Public Safety, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that emergency response vehicles routinely use sirens and lights in tandem when responding to emergency calls at night.  Because a number of first responder stations are located in dense urban areas, the response sirens disturb residents of these neighborhoods.  Your Committees find it necessary to establish a permanent emergency response vehicle noise task force to:

 

     (1)  Evaluate the noise impacts of the use of sirens at night;

 

     (2)  Evaluate the effectiveness of emergency responders' use of emergency lights without sirens compared to the use of lights and sirens in combination; and

 

     (3)  Recommend rules on the appropriate use of lights and sirens by emergency response vehicles.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Clarifying its purpose;

 

     (2)  Making the task force permanent;

 

     (3)  Clarifying the purview and duties of the task force;

 

     (4)  Changing the composition of the task force to include a more representative cross-section of stakeholders;

 

     (5)  Requiring the task force to meet biannually, starting in 2013; and

 

     (6)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 90, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 90, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environment and Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

 

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair		____________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair